Fyodor will now proceed to jinx the Hershey Bears as well.

Harrisburg Patriot-News: Hershey could end Calder Cup finals tonight

Hershey Bears winger Colin Forbes has been in this position before, one victory away from clinching the Calder Cup.

It's a situation where anticipation can overwhelm execution. An AHL championship feels close, but in reality at least 60 more minutes of maximum effort are required.

So near and yet so far.

"You've just got to be professional," Forbes said. "You can't get ahead of yourself."

Forbes and the Philadelphia Phantoms claimed destiny, capturing the Calder Cup with a Game 6 victory over the Saint John Flames in 1998.

The same opportunity confronts Hershey for tonight's Game 6 of the Calder Cup finals against the Milwaukee Admirals at Bradley Center. Game time is 8 p.m.

Win and earn the ninth Cup in franchise history. Lose and face the roulette road whim of Game 7 on Saturday.

"It's not over until we've got that trophy," Forbes said. "We're not getting ahead of ourselves.

"That's the main thing, don't get ahead of yourself. Even with five minutes remaining in the third period, you can't get ahead of yourself. You've got to keep focused until that buzzer rings."

The Bears, up 3-2 on Milwaukee, already have shown their championship mettle. They faced a Game-7 elimination in the Eastern Conference finals against Portland.

Milwaukee, which is trailing a series for the first time this postseason, could take some solace from the second half of its 6-4 Game 5 defeat at Giant Center Tuesday night.

The Admirals scored four of the last six goals. Libor Pivko, Shea Weber, Jordin Tootoo and Brandon Segal scored their first goals of the series, finally supplementing the efforts of Big Three Darren Haydar, Simon Gamache and Scottie Upshall.

"I would bet that they're unhappy that they lost, but I think they gained a lot of confidence," Bears head coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They know they're going into their building for two."

The first period has been the key in a series in which neither team has rebounded from an in-game deficit. Milwaukee has won the two games it kept Hershey scoreless in the first and lost the three when it surrendered first-period scores.

Think the first 20 minutes will be interesting tonight?

"You see when we start to play, they really go, 'Holy [bleep], these guys know how to play,'" Upshall said. "That's the way we've been all year. And other than the starts we've had in these three games, we've got to look at the things we're doing well. And that's skating and shooting the puck and getting on the forecheck."

Let's not forget the Bears have outscored Milwaukee 20-13 and held the edge in play in nine of 15 periods. Hershey has scored 13 goals in the last two games, the highest total Milwaukee has allowed in consecutive games all season.

One of the big reasons is that the Forbes-Brooks Laich-Eric Fehr/Jakub Klepis line has charged back into gear, accounting for five goals and 15 points the last two games.

"Offensively, we just haven't had the output that we want," Forbes said. "Brooksie and I had a little talk a couple days ago and tried to figure things out."

Laich, who ended a nine-game goal drought in Game 4, has played an iron man 102 games, including 72 games with the Washington Capitals.

"Potentially there's one game left," Laich said. "We've got 21/2 months to rest. Everyone is tired. Everyone is banged up a bit. I think we're running on fumes, but we have a maximum two games left in the season. We've got to suck it up. We don't want to go to the seventh game. We're concentrating just on Game 6."

Game 5 provided another taste of Milwaukee resolve. Down four goals in the epicenter of a hostile crowd of 10,000-plus, the Ads kept pushing.

"They can just fly and there's no lead safe," Boudreau said. "They keep coming back. They scored four goals without Haydar and Gamache getting anything. They finally started to get some balance. That's what scares me.

"We're going to need a 60-minute game at the top level we can possibly play to win one of the next two."

Milwaukee, which lost Game 2 at Bradley Center, hasn't lost two in a row at home the entire playoffs. The Ads haven't lost three in a row overall since the first three games of the regular season.

"We need to win Game 6 and then Game 7 will probably be a toss-up," Milwaukee head coach Claude Noel said.

"We will be relentless. We are going after this thing. We still believe we can win it, trust me."

In the three games at Giant Center, Hershey held Milwaukee's potent power play to a 13-percent conversion rate. At home, Milwaukee has converted 26.2 percent of its chances.

"We know they're going to be fighting for their lives," Laich said. "They're going to throw everything at us.

"It's their barn and obviously they've got something to say about it. They won it a couple years ago and they've got guys on that team that know how to win. They're going to be hungry, they're going to be desperate. We've got a lot of respect for them and I think Game 6 will be the best game of the series."

NOTES:
League records aren't complete, but if Hershey wins it is believed Boyd Kane will join Dave Fenyves as the only players to captain different teams to the Calder Cup in consecutive seasons. Fenyves did it with Rochester (1987) and Hershey (1988). ... That 1987 Rochester club is the lone team out of 17 in AHL history to lose Game 5 in a finals tied 2-2 and still come back to win the title. ... Game 6 will mark the latest game played in AHL history. June 13 was the previous latest.